Subversion of our democracy

by Jason Michael McCann Twitter@Jeggit

Margo McDonald

Jim Sillars

ACCORDING to a YouGov survey conducted in early September 2014, less than two weeks before the independence referendum, over a quarter of Scottish voters reported their belief that it was “probably true” that British Intelligence was actively involved in stopping Scots voting for independence.

In 2013 Margo McDonald, who had already raised her concerns that MI5 agents had infiltrated the Scottish National Party, wrote to Andrew Parker – Director- General of the British Security Service – asking him not to interfere in the referendum. Yet by the early summer of the following year her husband Jim Sillars, a former Deputy Leader of the SNP, stated his awareness of at least two intelligence officers having had arrived in Glasgow.

We all remember the storm after the vote, with photos and videos circulating around social media suggesting the election itself had been rigged. It was the stuff of conspiracy theory; at once poo-pooed by sensible Yes voters and laughed to derision by gloating unionists – the result of nationalists’ failure to accept democracy and as proof of their paranoia.

Whatever way we cut this, it is apparent that a significant minority of people in Scotland do not trust the British government not to manipulate free and democratic elections in our country. It is no secret that the intelligence agencies of the United States and the United Kingdom have form when it comes to interfering in and subverting democracies. Since the early 1970s the catalogue of these activities has become extensive, and the known tactics – or “the playbook” – are now well known. It is perfectly rational to assume that it is irrational to think this has happened here, but why not? Why would Scotland be an exception?